Introducing systems biology to bioscience students through mathematical modelling. A practical module

Abstract

Systems Biology, one of the current approaches to the understanding of living things, aims to understand the behaviour of living systems through the creation of mathematical models that integrate the available knowledge of the system's component parts and the relations among them. Accordingly, model building should play a central part in any biology degree programme. One difficulty that we face when confronted with this task, however, is that the mathematical background of undergraduate students is very often deficient in essential concepts required for dynamic mathematical modelling. In this practical module, students are introduced to the basic techniques of mathematical modelling and computer simulation from a Systems Biology perspective. © 2013 G. Scott.